Title: I am here / Psalm 40:1-7
Content Generally, the Bible describes returning as an act of repentance and leaving as an act of betrayal or apostasy.
In the case of the people of Israel, they often left God for the sake of the world or idolatry. The prophets made such an act a crime and appealed to them to return.
The second son in Luke 15 also left his father and went to another country. And from there he tumbled down to the bottom where a human could tumble. The second son, who left his father, became a beggar financially and a loser mentally. But even more tragic was the fall of his soul.
You can fail financially. However, if you do not lose your mental alertness, you can recover. However, when the spiritual state collapses, the economy and the will to live a healthy life collapse together. We can refer to it as a holistic fall.
All modern people suffer from success syndrome. I am under all kinds of mental stress because of the idea that business must be successful, corporations must be successful, politics must be successful, and ministry must also be successful. You don't have to deliberately give up on success. But if he desperately thinks he must be successful, he doesn't know life. Most people think that only going up is success. And I think going down is failure and defeat. But that is a misunderstanding.
It takes about 12 hours by plane to get to L.A., USA. When boarding an airplane, you must be seated in your seat with your seat belt fastened. When takeoff begins, the plane soars into the sky. It usually climbs to 1200 feet and then flies for about 12 hours while maintaining an altitude. If it's a jumbo 747, it shouldn't go any higher than that. You can't take a Jumbo 747 to the Moon, Venus, or Jupiter. And after about twelve hours, you have to come down to the ground again. Because you have to land on the runway to meet your family and friends.
Life has highs and lows. There is a time to go up and a time to go down.
Some people came to Sangdo-dong from the Blue House last month, while others entered the Blue House from Donggyo-dong. There is a time to go in and a time to come out. That is life.
As mentioned in Ecclesiastes, there is a time to be born and a time to die, that is life. The fallen angel became the devil while trying to ascend as much as God. But if he goes downhill all the way, he will go to hell.
Psalm 40 is David's prayer psalm asking God for help. We can find in the text the attitude and faith of the poet seeking God's help.
1. I waited.
Verse 1 says, “I waited for the Lord and waited.” David is a man of prayer. Most of David's psalms consist of his confessions and prayers. We often understand prayer as a confession or supplication to God. But the poet in the text said, "Wait and wait." And the important thing is, "I waited and waited, and he gave ear to me and heard my cry."
We must find the order of prayer here. The order of prayer should first tell us about our circumstances and the circumstances of our lives. You don't have to pick and say only the noble ones. There's no need to be shy about being childish.
In John 14:13-14, he said, "Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it." And he said, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." Notice the word "anything". I must tell God about my joy, sorrow, misery, happiness, as well as my sins.
And then we have to wait. It is to hope and hear God's answer. When you talk to people, there are people who talk only to themselves without giving the other person a chance to talk. Such a person is not a conversational partner.
In prayer life, “I believe” and “Lord,” are good, but the important thing is to wait. Simply put, after asking for help, you have to wait for God's disposition.
The text says, “I waited and waited, and he turned his ear and heard my cry.” Of course, if you wait and wait, there will be nothing to be anxious and frustrated with. A person with a quick temper will get nervous. Let's say you prayed for help when your house suddenly caught fire and the flames were rising. How upset would you be if you told that person to wait and wait again? If it is difficult to run a company right now and it is on the verge of bankruptcy, who would say prayers if you wait and wait? But you still have to wait.
Jesus' friend Lazarus, who was living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem, died suddenly one day. Martha and Mary, the sisters of the deceased, immediately sent to Jesus to tell them the news. However, in John 11:6, it is said that after hearing the news, he stayed in the same place for two days. Because Judea has a tropical climate, most funerals are held on the same day. In John 11:17, it says, "Jesus came and saw that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days." This is, in short, waiting for Lazarus' burial to end, and waiting for his body to decay. And he was waiting for his sisters and neighbors to grow weary of grief. It was in order to reveal the glory of God that Lazarus did not rise immediately after he died, but raised him up four days after he smelled of rot.
Christianity is a waiting religion. If you pray, you must be able to wait. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Lord's prayer, "Not as I will," was also a prayer waiting for God's will. You have to remember that you have to wait to get a response.
2. They depended on God.
Verse 4 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and does not look to the proud and the deceitful.”
David's life was a life of dependence on God for the rest of his life. But the proud rely on themselves, and the liars live by lying. To rely means to entrust yourself to someone you can trust. People realize and confirm the truth through experience.
One day, I met a middle-aged man who struggled after being betrayed and hurt by a friend whom he had been dating for 30 years like a brother. While he was abroad, a friend he trusted like a brother took his wife and company from him. He was grinding his teeth with hatred and anger. The monologue he repeated hundreds of times was "Is this possible? I couldn't even dream of it. There's no one in the world I can trust. I'm going to get my revenge."
The poet confesses. "I trusted in the Lord," hymn writer John H. Stockton sang, "In the Lord, in the Lord, in the Lord, in the Lord, in the saving, in the saving." Why should we rely on God? Psalm 46:2-3 says, "We will not fear, though the earth shall change, or the mountains shall shake and fall into the midst of the sea, whether the seas roar and roar, though the mountains tremble with their overflow."
It is a God who cannot be shaken, a God who is a stronghold, a God who is a rock, and a God who is a rock.
Who is a believer? He is a man who is dependent on God. Who succeeds in life? A person who trusts in God.
3. I have come to God.
Verse 7 says, "Then I said, I have come." In verse 6, we see the content of God's words in David's ears. It is that God wants not sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sin offerings. What God wanted was David himself.
A man went to a friend's house before believing in Jesus and stole 1 million won from his friend's handbag on the desk. The person who stole the money was poor, so I spent 18 years thinking that it was justified to steal 1 million won from the rich bag. However, as he believed in Jesus and repented, 18 years ago, a 1 million won case occurred. However, I could not afford to talk about the incident because of my face or circumstances. After much deliberation, he wrote an anonymous letter one day. And I put 3 million won in the letter and sent it by registered mail. However, the desirable course of action for the person to take is to confess his fault to the friend before repaying him for the money he stole 18 years ago. You must personally go to confession and ask for forgiveness. Sin is not forgiven.
The method of atonement in the Old Testament was through the blood of animals to be redeemed. However, it is believing in the merit of atonement on the cross and confessing one's sins.
Looking at the second half of verse 7, it says, "It is written about me in the scroll." It means that every act concerning me is recorded in the scroll book that God has. Because the poet knew it, he confessed that he had come to God himself for the purging of transgressions and sins.
In the Bible, there are more commands to “come” than to “go”. To go is to go preaching with the gospel, and to come is to face God. Isaiah 1:18 says, "Come, let us reason with one another." And Matthew 11:28 says, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden." Hosea 6:1 says, "Come, let us return to the Lord." And he said, “He will heal you and bind you up.” Hosea 14:1 says, “Return to the LORD your God, O Israel.” And in verse 2, he told me to come back and say this. "Remove all injustice."
The confession “I have come” is a confession that I am approaching the nearest place to God. It means that you are with God. It is a whisper, “Lord, I am by your side.” It is a report that says, “Lord, I am here.” The person who is near the Lord is the happiest person and the strongest person.